A Frenchman Is Suing Google For Posting A Street View Of Him Peeing In His Garden

A Frenchman is suing Google for
making him the laughing stock of his village after the Google
Map's Street View put a picture of him urinating in his garden on
the internet,
AFP reports.

"He discovered the existence of this photo after noticing that he
had become an object of ridicule in his village," the Frenchman’s
lawyer Jean-Noel Bouillaud told AFP.

The slightly blurred photo shows the man, 50, relieving himself
in a garden in his village in the Maine-et-Loire region of
France. The photo was taken in November 2010, according to
The Daily Mail.

The street view in question:

"My client lives in a tiny hamlet where everyone recognized him,"
said Bouillaud, adding that his client was on his own property
and the gate to his garden was closed at the time.

The man is suing Google in a court in the city of Angers for
infringement of his privacy and of his right not to have his
photo published without his accord. He also wants Google to pay
him 10,000 euros ($13,200) in damages, and withdraw the photo
form the site.

Google's lawyer, Christophe Bigot, has asked the court to declare
the complaint null and void because Google
Maps is owned by the company's U.S. headquarters, not by
Google France.

The court is due to make a ruling on the case on March 15,
Reuters reports.